Copyright Nazis Come A-Hunting for Parody on YouTube

Here's a bummer of significant proportions. SF group Richter Scales posted a parody video on YouTube about the impending pop of our rancidly ripe Web 2.0 bubble. It's a shame. We would've liked to see it.

The group used a bunch of images found online, mashed up to Billy Joel's We Didn't Start the Fire.

After over hundreds of thousands of views, the group and YouTube were contacted by a photographer who shot one image used in the parody. The video's since been pulled.

The group argued its satire is protected under Fair Use, but the photographer's intellectual property lawyer argued one simply "can't steal people's work."

Weighing in as devil's advocate, Robert Scoble observed, "I've found that the more I give away my content, the more magical stuff happens to me anyway and if that means my photos or writings or videos get used in some way that I don't really like, well, that's a risk I'm willing to take."

See the image what dun' it at Wired. (It's a picture of Business 2.0's Owen Thomas.) Wired was previously licensed to use the photo.